But I am not a criminal. I'm a shepherd, farmer and writer who has been preserving rare Shropshire sheep for the last 12 years, and farming various other heritage breeds and vegetables for the last 30.

Then the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) killed my beautiful ewes and their unborn lambs to find out if they were healthy. They were.

They were also rare and pregnant. Now they are dead.

Comment:
For those few readers who don't know, the CFIA, and its American equivalent, the USDA, are completely controlled by Monsanto, which is wholly committed to destroying independent farms and heritage breeds the world over. It is clear that they fully intend to kill every breed of animal and every strain of plant that they do not hold the patent on. The CFIA and the USDA are OWNED by Monsanto, and if they are not stopped, they will slaughter every animal, bee and plant not owned by Monsanto

The CFIA ignored over 5,000 people who signed a petition to stop them . Their policy must change to protect our heritage breeds and heirloom seeds - I need to keep going and ensure they don't destroy me, my farm or other small farms.

The domino effect since has been devastating, its been a downward spiral from their first raid, and worse with every invasion since. I keep telling myself "There are worse things", and I hang on.

I barely scraped through winter and now, I face imminent foreclosure and an astonishing $100,000. Dollar legal defense fee for the upcoming criminal trial. I have no income, no transportation, am battling depression and post traumatic stress.

If convicted, I face up to 12 YEARS IN JAIL and fines of $1.5 million.

If I lose the farm - they win. And that is just wrong...another wrong added to the CFIA's long list of nonsensical wrongs.
It's not easy to admit, but pride aside - I need help.

Please help spread word of this situation

It's up to all of us to change any and all unreasonable government policies that harm our environment, control our freedom and rights in real food and farming choices, and destroy our agricultural biodiversity. This uncomfortable chapter of mine is just a detail - I'm not going to lay down just because I'm cold or broke or steamrollered by government. I'm standing up.

People ask me how I can stand all the stress and pressure. I'm not always sure I can. But I hold the thought that what the CFIA has done is so very wrong, and what they continue to do is so very wrong.

More people need to know what our government is doing with the power we have vested in them, on the pretence of protecting us.

I appreciate the encouragement of so many who have been following this story...it has made all the difference to me. It constantly reminds me that we are not alone...no matter how different our personal challenges. This is not the worst thing that ever happened to anybody, but it IS happening, and it needs to stop.

Please help me keep my home - help me keep the farm going. Any help you can offer WILL make a difference!

'Certified organic' is just another pretense for big industry collusion, corporate dominance and bureaucratic control

Family farmers, the actual few who are left, are under incredible stress and ruin. It is not even being noticed really because it has been happening for such a long time. Farmers just get bigger and bigger, fill the void this way and this is celebrated. And in doing so, bigger, fewer farmers become more obedient to the big monopolies who then control and 'distribute' the near total harvest. These megafarms, who dominate and are obedient crowd out all others in a specific area. This long-standing practice is deadly for a variety of reasons, including wiping out the shared community life and values that centered on care of the land and care of people and good social life, and replacing those values with short-term profit for a single extremely large and rapacious, destructive business entity.

After being an Organic Valley member farmer, I can tell anyone who will listen that it ('certified organic') is the same old, same old, just with a propagandized twist to facilitate a good image., ie., calling things 'organic'. They (the organic markets) are corrupt, the USDA is entirely evil and corrupt and eventually, sooner rather than later, the price, the cost, of this corruption will be enormous for everyone.

There are literally thousands upon thousands of Montana Joneses. About as many as Negro slaves or dead Native Americans a century ot two ago.

Nedlud, thank you so much for sharing your personal experiences with us. This inside info you've just provided is at once enlightening and frightening...

We're fortunate enough to live close to Amish farming communities and other local farms, which provide high-quality organic foods, but, yes, we've been seeing, more and more, how their way of life is being threatened by harassment from the "authorities." And now, your story reinforces our observations, sheds even more light on our heightened vigilance and suspicions, and makes us even more staunchly in favor of and discriminating in our choice of organic (particularly, local and small farm) foods (even though we already practice this, if we have to travel even farther to buy local organic/cage-free/grass-fed, regardless of whether the price is higher, we're now even more determined to do so...that is, while there is still time left in the hourglass...the walls are rapidly closing in, and the curtain is falling for this act and scene in the play)...